New York Giants Sign Defensive End Robert Ayers: The New York Giants announced on Wednesday that they have officially signed unrestricted free agent defensive end Robert Ayers (Denver Broncos). The deal is reportedly a 2-year, $4 million contract with $1.75 million guaranteed.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me, coming to a great organization like this,” Ayers said. “They hate losing and they’re always about getting better and preparing and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the general manager and the owners, the coaches. Everyone speaks highly of them across the league. They’re a blue-collar organization, and I’m looking forward to being part of that. I left the Denver Broncos, who were a good organization, and I feel like I’m going to just as good or better of an organization. It’s going to be good to come here and be with leaders like Jon Beason and Antrel Rolle and Eli (Manning). It’s going to be a good experience for me, and hopefully I can help this team win.”

The Giants have also signed CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, OC J.D. Walton, and WR/Returner Trindon Holliday from the Broncos this offseason.

“It definitely helps to be here with familiar faces,” said Ayers. “You kind of blend in together and find your niche and link up with guys of your liking and similarities. From what I hear, it’s a great group of defensive linemen, so I’m looking forward to meeting those guys. It’s going to be good for all of us. There’s a lot of leadership on the defense. Hopefully we can establish ourselves as leaders, too.”

BBI scouting report on Ayers:

The Giants signed Robert Ayers as an unrestricted free agent from the Denver Broncos in April 2014. Ayers was originally drafted in the 1st round of the 2009 NFL by the Broncos. In five seasons with the Broncos, Ayers has played in 72 regular-season games with 27 starts. In 2013, he played in 15 games with three starts and finished the season with 29 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and one forced fumble. Ayers never lived up to his lofty draft status in Denver. For two seasons (2009-10), he was miscast as a linebacker. Ayers has good size for a defensive end and is a decent run defender. He has flashed at times as a pass rusher, but he only has 12 career sacks. Versatile, Ayers can move inside in pass rush situations and he has experience playing in a 2-point stance given his experience at linebacker.

Ayers talked about his ability to play multiple positions. “That’s something I was able to do in Denver, something I brought to the team,” Ayers said. “I’m able to play most of the positions, whether it was right defensive end, left defensive end, inside guy. I’ve done a lot of move-around, floating type stuff. I think that’s one of the things that the Giants saw that I could do, play a lot of different things. I’ve played a lot of different positions in my five-year career. I don’t know if they’re keeping me doing that or if they want me to lock in and solidify one role. I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m looking forward to doing it.”

Ayers is a Jersey City native.

“It’s going to be good to be able to play closer to family,” Ayers said. “The last five years were in Denver, they didn’t really get to see me play much other than on T.V. The next few years it’ll be good for them to be able to see me play and a good experience for me to have to share this time of my career with them.

“My grandma, most of my aunts, my uncles, most of my cousins are here, and then the ones that aren’t in Jersey City, they’re kind of scattered around the state. Some are in Pennsylvania, some in New York from my dad and my mom’s side. They’re all pretty much on the east coast and then there are some in Virginia. Pretty much everyone’s on this side of the tri-state area.”

“Whenever you’re with a good organization, there’s always a sense of wanting to be there,” said Ayers. “I was (in Denver) for five years and gained a lot of friends in the community, knew a lot of people, became close with guys on the team, my wife got close with the wives of players, so it was a tough situation to leave. I understand the business and also I was looking for an opportunity to come in and maximize my ability. I feel like the Giants gave me a better opportunity to do that than in Denver. I’m very happy to be here. I’m ready to put Denver in the past and move forward with the Giants. I’m looking forward to it and I’m very excited.”

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